Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2012: Friday's Free Practice Report (VMM)

“I don’t feel like I’ve found my flow yet – the track surface wasn’t very grippy in either session because of the morning’s rain.“I’m not entirely happy with the balance either – not everything we tried changing today was successful – but we’ve still got a few ideas for tomorrow and that’s a positive.

“There’s still a lot of work to do – but, if we can fine-tune the balance, we should be competitive.”

“Our car has quite a nice balance but we still need to make some further set-up changes. It’s tough in these temperatures, especially on the long runs, but to be honest I think everyone’s struggling a bit too.

“In FP2, I ran a bit wide at the final corner on my fastest lap and probably lost about half a second. Still, it’s great to be able to throw the car around on a high-downforce circuit.

“My race pace didn’t feel great from inside the cockpit, but my engineers tell me it was quite promising. The track should also rubber-in by tomorrow, so tyre degradation should be less of an issue.

“We’re in the top five, but it’ll be a very tight battle for pole position tomorrow. We’re looking at set-up and balance to improve our long-run pace, but today’s performance isn’t a bad place from which to start.”

MARTIN WHITMARSHTeam principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Despite extensive resurfacing, the Marina Bay circuit is still an extremely tough challenge for any Formula 1 driver. While it’s pleasing to see both our drivers routinely running towards the top of the timesheets in both free practice sessions, there’s still a considerable amount of work to do to finesse our car’s set-up for the remainder of the weekend.

“Like all street circuits, however, the track will rubber-in overnight, and we should find ourselves in a better position for what’s likely to be an extremely closely matched qualifying session.

“This is a good starting position for the rest of the weekend – let’s hope we can maintain our momentum.”